I was part of the team that DP Ruto contacted to impeach President Uhuru – Junet
Suna East Member of Parliament Junet Mohamed has come out to confirm allegations that Deputy President William Ruto had attempted to overthrow President Uhuru Kenyatta at the beginning of the Jubilee administration's second term.
Speaking to Daily Nation, Junet claimed that DP Ruto had reached out to the opposition lawmakers to help him execute his alleged impeachment plan.
In his allegations, Junet said that he was present when Ruto approached ODM leader Raila Odinga with several proposals that would see the Opposition join hands to ouster the head of state from office.
If the plans went through, Junet claimed that the DP had promised the opposition a 50 per cent stake in the government. He says that Ruto had also promised Raila the deputy president slot.
According to Junet, Ruto wanted to ouster his boss after he sensed that he (the president) wanted to 'shortchange' him in a deal they had in the run-up of the 2013 general elections. He claims that Ruto started executing the plan immediately President Kenyatta won his re-election in 2017 but the plan was slowed down by the nullification of the presidential election by the Supreme Court.
“The President hosted a Jubilee parliamentary group meeting at State House soon after he was declared the winner. In that meeting, it became clear that the honeymoon with his deputy was over. Kenyatta told his party’s rank that he would not share power with anyone. The remarks alarmed his deputy as it meant it would not be business as usual,” Junet told Daily Nation.
In his allegations, however, Junet failed to properly explain why his party leader, Raila opted not to take Ruto's offer after the two leaders had several meetings to execute the plan.
According to him, Raila was reluctant to strike a deal with Ruto because he (the ODM boss) was not comfortable with being a number two in Ruto's government. He says that, at the time, Raila felt that he was too big to settle for the DP's position.
“Why would we settle for the Number Two slot when our party leader was himself more qualified for the top job?” He posed.
Junet's statement, however, comes days after the ODM leader refuted claims of having any knowledge of Uhuru's planned impeachment.
“I am not aware of any impeachment attempts or claims on President,” Raila said earlier this week.
The reports about Ruto's alleged plan to ouster the president come days after President Kenyatta reportedly told a group of elders from the Mt Kenya region that his deputy had planned to shortchange him during their second term hence forcing him to seek support from Raila Odinga.
DP Ruto has, however, come out to dismiss the claims noting that he never planned to impeach the president terming the reports as malicious propaganda.
“I am not a fool, a drunkard or a mad man to help put together a government and then go behind it and plan to topple it. As Deputy President, I know what I must do, and I will never, I have never, and it has never happened that I will do anything to bring down our government. To those spreading the propaganda, shame on you! Shame! You deserve nothing but shame,” Ruto said.
Junet has, however, maintained that there was such meeting which he claims was chaired by a prominent Rift Valley businessman who he says had bad blood with President Uhuru's inner circle.
